Working Life

  Every day that passes, I get the sense that the people who run the big banks are even more brazen in their view that we, the people of the country, are just sharecroppers on their financial plantations. We work, we give–and they take and take…and, then, when they are done with us, we get […]

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   Not surprisingly, Bank of America–one of the truly despicable actors in the mortgage scandal–has violated a deal it struck with the state of Nevada. And Nevada wants to sue.  Here you go: The attorney general of Nevada is accusing Bank of America of repeatedly violating a broad loan modification agreement it struck with state […]

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   What has been extraordinary to watch over the past 30-40 years is the way in which, when economic crisis strikes, the political and economic leadership of the country leaps into the breach to lend a hand–not to the regular people who suffered the most but, rather, to the very institutions and economic elites who […]

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   Over the last couple of days, I’ve written about the blatant ethical violations of Kathryn S. Wylde, a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. One thing struck me in particular about the Fed’s rules for its Class C directors: Class C directors are prohibited from owning bank stocks, for example,…    […]

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   Apparently, if you shill for the banks AND violate ethical standards set forth by the institution on whose board you sit, no one really cares. Not the editorial boards of newspapers. Not the transcribers of press releases (formerly known as "journalists"). Not elected officials. And not advocates for the public interest.    Nope. The […]

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   I doubt few people think the Federal Reserve is anything but a mouthpiece for the big financial institutions. And most people would be right–after all, the Fed’s Board of Governors and the branches are effectively run by creatures of the banks.     But, the least we can do is make sure that we […]

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   This is the world we live in. When a politician, who represents the people, decides to stand up to powerful interests who have robbed the people, his political peers try to foil him. On the other hand, if you kiss the ass of powerful interests, you get campaign contributions. And we wonder why the […]

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   Many of us have been troubled that bankers and financiers have gotten off and paid no price for the financial crisis that obliterated millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in wealth–and, indeed, the CEOs and Wall Street folks are reaping huge pay packages again. The slaps on the wrist for Goldman Sachs and […]

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    I’ve maintained for a long time that the civil fines levied against Goldman Sachs ($550 million) and J.P. Morgan ($153 million) for their roles in the financial crisis scam amounted to peanuts–costs that will be ultimately passed on to consumers and shareholders. If a financial executive could aid and abet a massive fraud and […]

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